Towel-cabinet.



I. H. SHATTUCK.

TOWEL CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 3. 1916.

1,299,583., Patented June 12, 1917.

IRA H. SHATTUCK, DE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

TOWEL-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 111114312, 1917.

Application filed April 3, 1916. Serial No. 88,739.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRA H. SHATTUCK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, county of Los Angeles, and State of California, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Towel-Cabinets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a towel cabinet designed to supply toevery individual a clean portion of a .continuous strip of toweling contained therein, and has especial reference to an improvement over that class of cabinets more particularly shown and described in my United States Patent No. 1,092,405, of April 7, 1914:.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention.

Figure 1 is a front view of the cabinet showing an exposed portion of the toweling.

Fig. 2 is a'section taken on line 2-2 Fig. 1, showing the interior mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a front View of the operating mechanism with the locking means for the toweling omitted.

Fig. 4: is a perspective view showing means for locking the toweling.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective detail showing the means for pivotally mounting the locking means, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detail ofthe toweling supplying mechanism.

Referring in. detail to the drawing, 1 designates a door hingedly attached to the cabinet 2, and on which the entire working mechanism is preferably mounted.

Such mechanism comprises a spool 3,

journaled in brackets 4, on the inside of said door 1, and upon which spool 3, a supply of toweling is Wound, the roll of toweling being held against any but a positive movement by any suitable friction means, as a spring-pressed roller 5. Secured to the inner side of the door 1, are preferably two spaced bearing members 6 and 7 carrying the trunnions 8 of an upper roller 9; the trunnions 10 of a lower roller 11; and the trunnions 12 of an intermediate roller 13. The upper roller 9, and lower roller 11, are yieldingly held in position in the top and bottom, respectively, of the bearing members 6 and 7, by, springs 14!: and 15, which are attached to and interconnect 'yokes 16 and 17, respectively, which loosely fit over the trunnions 8 of the upper roller 9, and over the trunnions 10 of the lower roller 11. By this arrangement the rollers 9 and 11 mayv readily.

Said gear 22,

yield and make room for a seam or other unevenness in the toweling strip, thereby avoiding any excessive pull on the material and consequently any damage to the mech anism.

As seen in Fig. 3, the trunnions 8, 10 and 12,, of each roller, 9, 11 and 13, are each provided with gears 18, 19 and 20, meshing with each other. The gears 18, 19 and 20, may, if desired, be provided on both ends ofthe rollers, as shown, but may also be omitted therefrom or from one end Without interfering with the efliciency of the device. I

On the trunnion 12, is also mounted a pinion 21, with which a gear 22, meshes, to impart motion to the gears 18, 19 and 20, through the means presently described. is rotatably mounted on an arbor 23, in an extension 24, of the bearing member 6, and is provided with a ratchet wheel 25. On the arbor 23, is also mounted a link 26, carrying a pawl 27, which is under the tension of a spring 28 and which pawl is arranged to actuate said ratchet wheel 25. To this link 26, is pivotally attached one end .of a lever 29, the other end of which is 'attached to a pin 30, intermediate a handle 31, pivotally connected to an arm 32, forming part of the extension 24, of the bearing 6. The lever 29 is provided with an elongated slot 33 for the purpose of causing the pin 30 on the handle to move in said slot without moving the lever, as and for the reasons hereafter appearing.

The handle 31, extends through a slot 34:, in the door 1, and is held in normally inoperative position by a spring 35. The movement of said lever or handle downwardly for the purpose of regulating the length of the toweling to be exposed, may be limited by an In order to close the opening or slot 37,

in the door 1 of the cabinet, prevent refuse .material from being thrown thereinto, and

to lock the toweling, the following provi sion is made:

Pivotally mounted in ears 39, on the inside of the door 1, are two shutters 40 and 41, the shutter 40, extending above the opening in the door, and being arranged to clamp the toweling which passes between the top of said shutter 40 and the inside of the door, as shown. The lower edge of the shutter 40 and the upper edge of the shutter 41 are so shaped as to interfit and form a tight closure and lock for ,the toweling which as seen, passes between these shutters and rollers and to the bottom of the cab inet.

These two shutters 40 and 41 are connected to a bar 43, carrying in its upper end a pin 44, by means of which it is operatively connected to the handle 31. This bar 43 is under the tension of a spring 45, which, upon the downward movement of the handle 31, pulls down the bars, 43, thereby opening the shutters and releasing the toweling. Such release of the toweling must occur before the rollers are operated, and this is accomplished by the elongated slot 33 in the lever 29, in which slot the pin travels for a short distance until the shutters have toweling and leave exposed for usea length movement opened. Upon the continued downward movement of the handle, the lever 29 moves the link 26, and the pawl 27, on the latter, engaging the ratchet wheel 25, imparts motion to the gear 22, which sets the rollers 13, 9 and 11, in motion. The movement of the handle 31 is adjusted to cause the mechanism to pay out only a predetermined length of toweling and when once-adjusted,

such predetermined length of toweling never varies. What I claim is 1. A towel cabinet comprising a casing, a

toweling supply roll within said casing, a

plurality of rollers to feed and-take up the vided with a slot, a toweling supply roll within said cabinet, a plurality of rollers to feed a length of toweling through said slot and return the used toweling to the cabinet,

geared means to actuate said rollers, a lever, means operatively connected with said lever to operate said geared means said lever having a predetermined movement independent of said means, a locking means to close the slot in-said door, and lock the toweling, means operatively connected with and held by, said lever when in normal position to hold said locking means normally in operative position, and means to unlock said locking means during the independent movement of, and hold said locking means unlocked during the operative movement of said lever. v

3. A towel cabinet having a .door provided with a slot, a toweling supply roll within said cabinet, a plurality of rollers to feed a length of toweling through said slot and return the used toweling to the cabinet, a train of gears to actuate said rollers, a handle, means operatively connected with said handle to operate said gears, a plurality of shutters to close the slot in said door, and lock the toweling, and means connected to said shutters and controllable by said handle to operate said shutters simultaneously. I

4. A towel cabinet having a door provided with a slot, a toweling supply roll within said cabinet, a plurality of rollers to feed a length of toweling through said slot and return the used toweling to the cabinet,-a train of gears to actuate said rollers, a handle, means operatively connected with said handle to operate said gears, a plurality of shutters to close the slot in said door'and lock the toweling, a bar connected with said shutters, and having one end operatively' connected with said handle whereby to close said shutters and lock the toweling when said handle is moved inone direction, and a spring on said bar to cause said shutters to be opened when said handle is moved in another direction.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses. IRA SHATTUCK. Witnesses: r

HENRY E. S'roRRs, ANTON GLoErzNER, J r. 

